BDO Seidman, LLP - Accountants and Consultants

San Francisco, CA – March 3, 2008 – According to a new survey by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of the nation’s leading accounting and consulting organizations, chief financial officers at technology businesses cite currency risk (26%) and uncertain political/business climates (25%) as their main concerns regarding continued international growth in 2008. Training of international employees (17%), risk to intellectual property (14%) and international business tax regulations (12%) were less of a concern to the CFOs.  Approximately four-fifths (79%) of the CFOs indicated their business has operations outside of the United States and almost half (49%) are outsourcing some type of manufacturing or service to a company outside the U.S. 

These findings are from the BDO Seidman 2008 Technology Outlook Survey which examined the opinions of 100 chief financial officers at leading technology companies located throughout the U.S. including a subset in the Silicon Valley.  The technology businesses in the study had revenues ranging from more than $100 million to $15 billion.  The survey was conducted in January of 2008. 

“Despite some of the CFOs’ concerns regarding international expansion, nearly 50% of technology companies in the U.S. and 64% in Silicon Valley are feeling the need to source services or production overseas.  This shows that the very nature of the technology industry has become international,” said Lee Duran, Partner in BDO Seidman’s Technology Practice. “These companies are also continuing to outsource their manufacturing, IT and distribution services to India, Southeast Asia and China; despite near-sourcing alternatives in Latin America and Canada.”

Other major findings of the 2008 BDO Seidman Technology Outlook:

* Outsourcing – Who?  Almost half (49%) of the technology businesses surveyed are outsourcing some type of service or manufacturing to a company outside the U.S.  This percentage jumps to 64 percent, when you focus solely on companies based in Silicon Valley. 

* Outsourcing – What? Of those outsourcing, the most common functions being off shored are: manufacturing (74%), IT services and programming (51%), research and development (49%), distribution (45%) and call centers (35%). 

* Outsourcing – Where?  The most common locations for outsourcing are India (60%), Southeast Asia (50%), China (46%), Western Europe (21%) and Latin America (19%).  When asked what one location they might consider for outsourcing in the future, the CFOs cited India (30%), China (23%), and Southeast Asia (22%).

About BDO Seidman, LLP

BDO Seidman, LLP is a national professional services firm providing assurance, tax, financial advisory and consulting services to a wide range of publicly traded and privately held companies. Guided by core values including, competence, honesty and integrity, professionalism, dedication, responsibility and accountability for almost 100 years, we have provided quality service and leadership through the active involvement of our most experienced and committed professionals.

BDO Seidman serves clients through 35 offices and more than 300 independent alliance firm locations nationwide. As a Member Firm of BDO International, BDO Seidman, LLP serves multi-national clients by leveraging a global network of resources comprised of 621 Member Firm offices in 110 countries. BDO International is a worldwide network of public accounting firms, called BDO Member Firms, serving international clients. Each BDO Member Firm is an independent legal entity in its own country. www.bdo.com

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